Art of lettering



5 g 9 s 2, w w N n e R w, m y T Z 2 WW A L 0 x fi E. BOURGEOIS ART OF LETTERING Filed Sept. 23 25 Feb. 16 192.6.

Patented Feb. 16, 1926.

EDGAR BQURGEOIS, OI MABLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS.

ART OF LETTERING.

Application filed September 23, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR BOURGEOIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marlboro, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Art of Lettering, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of lettering, and while capable of general application is particularly directed to the application of letters, numbers or symbols to glass and the production of signs, street numbers and other indicia on store windows.

According to all prior practice, of which I am aware, considerable skill is required to produce acceptable lettering on glass and in practically every instance where metal foil is employed, the laying out of the letters, must be undertaken directly on the glass or on the foil which is secured to the glass. For example, one prior method consists in first lettering with a brush upon the glass with an adhesive, such as varnish, and thereafter carefully laying metal foil over the characters thus produced. The adhesive is allowed to dry, the superfluous foil is rubbed off and the letters carefully outlined in color with a brush. The whole is thereafter carefully varnished over to render the work permanent. This is the method commonly employed, but it requires great skill resulting from long experience and is costly and time consuming.

Another method which has been suggested, but has not met with popular favor, consists in adhesively securing metal foil over the areas to be lettered and thereafter carefully laying out the letters on the foil. The outlines of the letters are manually cut into the foil while it is on the glass and, before the adhesive is dry, the surplus foil is stripped from the glass leaving the desired parts of the letters in place. According to this method, the artist must lay out and cut the letters from the foil while it is on the glass, and, from the nature of the foil, this requirement renders this method even more diflicult of satisfactory accomplishment than the one previously described.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, the object of the present invention is to rovide a method of and means for letterlng on glass whereby the work can accomplished in an economical, expeditious Serial No. 58,000.

and thoroughly practical manner, without the requirement of that high degree of skill hereto ore required for window lettering.

As a result of exhaustive experimentation and tests, I have fully demonstrated that very superior results can be obtained by mounting a sheet of metal foil in which one or more letters, symbols or other indicia have been out upon a suitable backing by means of an adhesive which serves the purpose of holding parts of the cut foil in proper position upon the backing. These letters or other indicia can be cut into the foil by dies which can be accurately made, so as to produce perfect work. The adhesive employed is such that it will hold the parts firmly together, but will permit of the stripping of the backing from the foilby the operator when desired. In carrying out the process, a sheet of foil is cut and secured to the backing as described.

The parts assembled as described are now applied to the window or other glass to be lettered either by moistening an adhesive on the exposed face of the foil or by applying an adhesive to such face or by applying adhesive to the glass and sticking the foil in proper position thereon. After the parts are in position on the glass, the backing is stripped off leaving the foil in place on the glass. Further procedure depends upon the type of character desired. If, e. g., a black foil letter with a black outline is desired, the foil constituting the outline portion of the letter is stripped from the sheet of foil on the glass and immediately thereafter the space left by this stripping operation is filled in with black paint. The parts are left in position for a sufiicient period to permit the black to set and thereafter the major portion of the sheet of foil, outside of the black outline, is stripped from the glass leaving the foil letter with a black outline. This can be varnished over to render the work permanent.

If, instead of a foil letter, a colored letter is desired, the foil letter is stripped after the black outline has set and before the varnishing operation and the space on the glass, left by the stripping of the letter, is filled in with color, and the parts thereafter varnished for permanency. If a plain block letter in a foil background is desired, the letter is simply stripped from the foil leaving the rest of the sheet of foil in place on the glass. Other forms of letter may be produced as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The advantages of the present method are numerous, but chief among them is the fact that the letters or other characters can be perfectly cut by a die and do not require the skill of an artist in laying them out, and together with the further fact that the characters may be applied expeditiously and with very little if any actual skill such as has been required under prior practice.

Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative only, and not as defining the limits bf the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a frag ment ofa pane of glass showing the method of practicing the present invention. In tlllS view successive steps are shown in order thatthe method maybe clearly understood; and

Figure 2 is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1 with the glass omitted.

The article of this invention embodies two plies 1 and 2, of which the former will be hereinafter termed the letter ply and the;

latter the backing ply or backing.

The ply l is of metal foil, while the ply 2 may be of metal foil or other suitable material. In thepreferred manner of making the article, the letter ply 1 is laid upon a suitable table and the letter or other character cut thereinto. The letter N is shown for illustrative purposes and is illustrated as comprising a body portion 2 and an outline portion 4. formed by cutting the lines 5 and 6. While the ply 1, cut as described, is lying on the cutting table, the backing 2 is laid upon the ply 1 and is adhesively secured to said ply, so that after the adhesive has united the parts, the plies 1 and 2 ma be picked up as a unit and thereafter handled as such.

When it is desired to apply the letter to a window pane or other glass, the exposed face of the ply 1 is adhesively secured to the pane of glass 7 by any suitable adhesive which will hold the entire ply 1 to the glass. This adhesive may, in practice, be applied to the exposed face of the ply 1 and permitted to dry as one of the manufacturing operations, and may be rendered sticky or adhesive by moistening when ready for use.

After the piles 1 and 2 have been secured to the glass 7 as described, and the adhesive sufiiciently set to hold the ply in position, the backing ply 2 is stripped ofl". Figure 1 shows the backing ply as partly stripped from the letter ply.

If a foil letter with a colored outline is desired, the portion 4 of the foil between the lines 5 and 6 is stripped off, as shown in Figure 1 and after it is entirely stripped from the glam, the portion 8 of the glass thus uncovered is coated with the color. After this color has set, that portion of the ply 1 exteriorly of the line 6 is stripped from the glass and a coat of varnish applied over the part 3 to render the work permanent.

If, instead of a foil letter, a colored letter is desired, the part 3 is stripped from the glass and before the varnishing operation the portion of the glass thus uncovered is filled in with color and the varnishing operation thereafter carried on.

Plain transparent block letters formed within foil or colored outlines may be produced by stripping ing different portions as will be apparent. The foil employed may be either old foil or the foil of any other metal and i painted letters are required the base metals are preferably used in the interest of economy. I

It will be noted from Figure 2 that the backing ply is provided with lines of indentation, designated 5 and 6 and juxtaposed with the cuts 5 and 6 of the letter ply. These may be formed by merely rubbing the backing after it is laid upon the ply 1 as described and these lines of indentation are an advantage in that they assist in the positioning of the assembly upon the window, since the operator can see exactly where the finished letter will be positioned. These lines may, however, be dispensed with if desired. In practice, both of the plies are preferably of metal foil and the adhesive used for securing them together may be gelatine or some other suitablesubstance with sufficient adhesive properties to hold the parts against inadvertent separation, but to permit them to be readily separated when desired. The adhesive employed to secure the ply 1 to the glass will, of course,

y vary with the type of letter to be applied to the glass. In some cases, varnish may be used while in others gelatine is thoroughly satisfactory.

It will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description that the invention possesses many marked advantages; that is to say, the letters, symbols or other characters may be made of perfect shape by the use of suitable dies. The letter or symbol may be applied to a window without requirement of any such skill as was necessary under prior practice and lettering can be accomplished in accordince with this invention in avery economical and expeditious manner.

The foregoing detailed descri tion sets forth the invention in its preferre practical out portions and colorform, but the invention will be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that gold letters on a black background, or vice versa, may be effectively and easily produced. 0

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described method of lettering, which consists in cutting in a letter ply of material a letter or symbol, thereafter applying a suitable backing to said ply to hold the ply intact, thereafter adhesively securing the first mentioned ply to the surface on which the letter is to. be accomplished, then stripping ofi the backing, and thereafter stripping from said surface such parts of the letter ply as it is desired to remove.

2; The herein described method of lettering, which consists in cutting in a letter ply of material a letter or symbol, thereafter hold the ply intact, thereafter adhesively securing the first mentioned ply to the surface on which the letter is to be accomplished, then stripping off the backing, then stripping from said surface a portion of the letter ply to uncover the underlying part of such surface, then applying a. coating to such exposed part of the surfaces and thereafter stripping from said surface additional parts of the letter ply.

3. The herein described method of lettering which consists in applying to the surface adhesively secured thereto, thereafter stripping the backing from the foil to leave the foil intact on said surface. and thereafter stripping parts of such foil from said surface.

ing which consists in applying to the surface to be lettered a sheet of metal foil in which av letter or symbol is out and which sheet of foil is held intact by a suitable backing adhesively secured thereto, thereafter stripping the backing from the foil to leave the foil intact on said surface, and thereafter successively stripping different parts of such foil from said surface.

5. The herein described method of lettering which consists in cutting in a'letter sheet of metal foil :1 letter or symbol, and leaving the sheet intact, thereafter adhesively applying a backing to the sheet to hold it intact, thereafter adhesively applying the exposed surface of the letter sheet to the surface to be lettered, and then stripping off the backing to leave the sheet intact on said surface, thereupon stripping a portion of the letter sheet from the surface to uncover a portion of said surface, then applying a color to the portion of the surface thus uncovered, thereafter stripping a further portion of the letter sheet from the surface to uncover an-- other portion of said surface and coloring such additional portion, and thereafter removing from the surface that part of the letter sheet which remains thereon.

.6. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet of metal foil having a letter or symbol cut thereinto and a suitable temporary flexible backing adhesively, detachably securedmarkings showing the outlines of the letter or symbol of the metal sheet.

In testimony whereof/I have signed the foregoing specification.

EDGAR BOURGEOIS. 

